Just 11 years old when he was charged with fatally shooting his pregnant, would-be stepmother, Jordan Brown is finally a free man more than nine years later. His lawyers continued to file appeals in order to have his juvenile conviction (adjudication) overturned. The Pennsylvania Superior Court rejected an appeal by three area newspapers (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and New Castle News) to overturn Hodge's ruling and open the hearing to the public. Two years ago, Howard County State's Attorney Rich Gibson decided not to charge a Woodbine homeowner who shot and killed a drunken man at his door.The stranger had come to the wrong house . On May 8, 2013, the Superior Court vacated the finding of delinquency, citing "palpable abuse of discretion" and sent the case back to juvenile court. It used to bother me all the time. Homicide, something of this magnitude was very, very uncommon, Martin said. PITTSBURGH (AP) A boy who was 11 when he was accused of killing his father's pregnant fiance and her unborn son was found guilty Friday of their 2009 shotgun slayings. They investigated for eight hours then charged an 11-year-old as an adult. There was a small amount of gun residue on Jordan's jacket, explained by his lawyers as being from a hunt the boy had been on a few days prior. At all. Police arrested Jordan Brown based on the information provided by the girl. The arrest of an 11-year-old for murder quickly gained wide media attention, and suddenly Wampum, Pennsylvania, a town with a population of roughly 600 people, had millions of eyes on it. Emma Tustin, 32, murdered the boy by . He has repeatedly stated in interviews that while he suffers from PTSD, he is committed to turning his life around. CINCINNATI (FOX19) - A 28-year-old man was gunned down in Avondale late Wednesday, Cincinnati police said. It's kind of a bittersweet feeling, you know. And if you go by Adalynns account, this means it all, including the murders, happened long after Jordan and Jenessa had left the house and were on their way to school. But as far as his guiltiness, I know he is. The youth's father did not publicly discuss the case, until after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court exonerated his son nine years later in July 2018. Interviewing those involved, with the goal of finding out who killed Jordan and why? Houk, who was eight months pregnant at the time of her death, was found dead by her four-year-old daughter in the familys farmhouse in Pennsylvania. It's saying that I have a charge in front of me in juvenile court, and I am finding that you are responsible for that crime, ABC News Chief Legal Analyst Dan Abrams said. Those law enforcement officers who said that they smelled [that the gun] was recently fired, they conceded that they had no expertise or training, said Jordans attorney Dennis Elisco. In a split panel decision dated September 1, 2016, titled In re J.B. III, 147 A.3d 1204 (Pa.Super. I would also like to hear more about the alternate suspect the lawyer speaks of. And none of us wanted to put handcuffs on an 11-year-old. Jon Venables and Robert Thompson were only 10 when they killed that poor toddler. I miss her every day, he said. As an investigator, you have to look at everything.. I can't even imagine all the pain Jordan Brown and his family went through :/. I'd, like, lose myself in the book. In another allegation, the lawsuit provides a transcript of an interview with a former girlfriend of Browns father, a woman who said at least twice that she was absolutely not afraid of Jordan Brown. "Homicide, something of this magnitude was very, very uncommon," Martin said. Wright says more than that, the evidence investigators gave to prosecutors was improperly gathered, mischaracterized or fabricated to support a theory that the then 11-year-old had committed the murder something he would have had to do and clean up without missing anything in the space of about 120 seconds. My wife is so much in shock I think Im gonna have to take her to the hospital. And then, Jordans defense attorneys pointed to the troopers who had said Jordans shotgun smelled as if it had just been fired when they arrived at the house that morning. Jordans conviction was overturned. Later that night, as Chris and Jordan Brown were finally starting to nod off around 3:30 a.m., they were startled by a pounding on the door. 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Pay for the crime that you did, Deborah Houk said in a phone interview Wednesday. His father backed up his alibi, confirming Harveys story that he was home with them. A subreddit dedicated to the unresolved mysteries of the world. Dr. Stiles helped her overcome this fear and realize she wasn't like her mother. The summary of that interview provided by troopers is changed to claim the woman didnt want her interview used against the boy because she was scared of him. They literally said because he cried in the interview he was still in love with her & because the car had snow on it? When he was just 11, Brown was charged with the murder of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Jordan Brown, who was convicted, then exonerated, of murdering his father's fiance when he was a preadolescent, has filed suit against those who his attorney said robbed him of his childhood, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette . And I just remember looking at him thinking, How can this kid have any more hope?. That was a shame., He also did not rule out the possibility of filing a civil suit on behalf of Brown, saying, If I find prosecutorial misconduct, we might find our way to the civil courts., RELATED:Who Is Carolyn Bryant Donham? Speakman said Brown's family lives out of state, so when he heard Jordan was murdered, he reached out to the family on Facebook. Evidence Popularised By A New Documentary And TikTok Theory Suggests An O.J. I was hard pressed to believe it back then & now Im even more convinced they had tunnel vision. During his incarceration, Jordan taught himself to play guitar and said he became a pretty good basketball player. Obtained by ABC News Police determined that Houk had been shot in the back of the head. You know, if something happened, tell me. In July 2018, the court sided with Jordan Brown, writing that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania had failed to prove Jordan Brown guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. [13] He was to remain on juvenile court probation until he turned 21. Where is any evidence showing abuses by the son towards his stepmom. And her phone rang.. But he added that Jordan's hands were never checked for gunpowder residue. Especially grief-sticken was the younger . Simpson Conspiracy Theory That O.J Simpson's Son Jason Be Guilty Of Murdering His Step-mother Nicole Brown And Ron Goldman. [I'd say,] Jordan, listen, if something happens. A state police spokesman, Ryan Tarkowski, declined to comment on pending litigation. A certiorari request for review was made to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which granted an appeal to consider Brown's claims that the evidence was insufficient as a matter of law to sustain the adjudication of the juvenile court, and that its adjudication was against the weight of the evidence. After his February 21, 2009 arrest, Jordan was placed in the Lawrence County Jail, a facility for adults. Her unborn son died as well. He knew there was a 20 gauge shotgun that they have in the house and gets there after everybody leaves, before it snows with no tracks, and gets by the tree cutting guys. Jordan Browns lawyers announced they would appeal two months after his conviction. Police determined that Houk had been shot in the back of the head. He had 120 seconds to kill her and clean up. WAMPUM, Pa. -- Jordan Brown was 11 years old when he was arrested and initially charged as an adult for the murder of his pregnant, soon-to-be stepmother. Christopher Brown and his once-partner, Mildred Krause, gladly welcomed Jordan Brown into their lives on August 12, 1997. Justices said in their 2018 decision that prosecutors presented largely circumstantial and insufficient evidence, saying among other things in trial testimony that a 20-gauge shotgun in Browns bedroom was the murder weapon actually supported an equally reasonable conclusion that it was not used in the murder. I guess you could speculate that. [12] Judge Hodge would announce Brown's disposition (the equivalent of a juvenile sentence) at a later date. It was a frigid day in Wampum, a small town in Western Pennsylvania. The report also revealed that Houks ex-boyfriend had learned he was not the biological father of Houks youngest daughter just two weeks before the murder. After Pennsylvania's Superior Court ruled that Judge Motto violated Brown's Fifth Amendment rights, Judge Motto recused himself from the case, and Judge John W. Hodge granted the decertification petition and ruled that Brown should be tried as a juvenile.[6]. I liked her a lot, Jordan Brown told 20/20. I was happy [about the baby] I always wanted a little brother. Both lawyers also discussed key details about Browns whereabouts. They literally said because he cried in the interview he was still in love with her & because the car had snow on it? But omg! Jordan Brown said he has mixed feelings about what happened to him. That decision, he told 20/20, is something that's haunted me.. Brown could be held in a juvenile rehabilitative treatment facility only until he turned 21 in August 2018. Martin said the autopsy report determined that Houk had been killed with a shotgun and she had a single gunshot wound to the back of the head. Why would the police ignore it? They had a warrant for Jordan's arrest. However, Jordan said he remembered seeing a black truck near the garage. We must demand to know how the Pennsylvania State Police could establish policies that would allow this tragedy to occur, and, even more to the point, encourage the occurrence of tragedies like this one.. I didn't think anything of it. On May 8, 2013, Superior Court, in the second appeal that came before it in this case, ruled that "the juvenile court committed a palpable abuse of discretion in rendering a ruling that is plainly contrary to the evidence" and vacated the juvenile court's disposition of delinquency. But in the complaint filed in federal district court Wednesday, Brown and his attorneys say state police investigators manipulated interviews, evidence and procedures to push the narrative that Brown had killed his soon-to-be stepmom. It was a whole different world. We did not get this wrong, McGraw told 20/20. There is not a trooper on scene that day that has lost one second of sleep over this case.. Harvey told police he didnt harm Houk, telling them he was sleeping at home when she was killed. On November 20, 2010, Renee King, 29, of Macomb County, Michigan, called 911 to say her stepdaughter, two-year-old Lily Furneaux, was unconscious. I agree with a lot of the previous comments- the bald cop was way too defensive, the girls story changed and that was ok but his story changed and it meant he was guilty, the ex had all the motive and he said he didnt do it so they said ok. What really gets me though is that grown men who have prior criminal experience commit murders, try and clean up the scene, and still leave physical evidence. And with the focus on his sons legal plight, Chris Brown said his grief for the loss of his fiance and their unborn baby had to take a backseat. Her partner and Arthur's father, 29-year-old Thomas Hughes, was found guilty of. Wright says in the lawsuit that state police investigators failed to include any exculpatory evidence that indicated someone else could have committed the murders in their affidavit to charge Brown although he said plenty existed. Now 21, Brown, who spent more than. And I was in there. On July 18, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction in a 50 decision. Brown said this week from his western Pennsylvania home that he is studying computer science at a college in Ohio, but taking criminal justice classes with the idea that he might go to law school and pursue a career as a civil rights attorney. Jordan Brown was just 11 years old when he was taken into custody in 2009 by Pennsylvania police for allegedly fatally shooting 26-year-old Kenzie Houk, who was expecting Jordan's younger. Jordan freely admitted he knew how to handle a gun, and the gun powder was only found on his sweatshirt, which hed worn on a duck hunt just a couple days before. Shes bawling and crying, Mr. Houk said. "She was yelling, 'You killed my father! Just a fifth grader at the time, he said he didnt understand of what he was being accused. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. The court said that prosecutors did not have enough evidence to support the conviction, according to The Associated Press. On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Jordan Brown, who was convicted of murdering his fathers pregnant fiance in 2009 when he was just 11 years old. The blended family seemed to be bonding. However, shortly after his birth, Chris attained full custody as his mother fell seriously ill. Houk, 26 and about eight months pregnant with Jordans little brother, was found dead in her bed by her 4-year-old daughter on Feb. 20, 2009. The coroner determined Lily had died at least two hours before her stepmother . Within a day, Harvey was cleared as a suspect. ", I just read about this case on people.com. I think has just ruined us [from] ever having closure and the person who did this, and for the person who actually did this to pay for it.". Davis's death helped inspire the Black Lives Matter Movement and contributed to the national debate Read MoreJordan Russell Davis (1995-2012) Love is the desire to see unneces Harvey also drove a black truck. He kept shifting and obviously upset. No question.. Brown, now nearly 23, said this week he hopes the lawsuit will be the definitive finding of his innocence as well as providing some compensation for his father, Chris Brown, who paid child support, taxes, lawyers fees and expenses to travel more than 100 miles every day to see him while he was incarcerated. [I'm] happy that this part of it is over with Jordan, you know, being wrongfully accused. Tacoma Police say. She feared him, Chris Brown said. A never-ending shadow of shock and grief embarked upon the Brown family in February of 2009, after the lady of the house, Kenzie Marie Houk, was shot dead and their 11-year-old son, Jordan Brown, was held accountable for the murder. The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 2018 ruled prosecutors did not provide enough evidence to support a conviction and Brown was exonerated at the age of 20. Pennsylvania State Police found a spent shotgun shell near the path Brown walked with Houk's older daughter to get to their school bus. Part of me wants to get into a line of work to help kids or just people in general to prevent the injustices before they happen or at least after they happen, trying to correct them., 2023 Trib Total Media | All Rights Reserved, Railroads urged to examine track detectors after Ohio crash, Historically mild February leaves Pittsburgh region with barely a trace of snow, EPA opens office near site of Ohio toxic train derailment, UPMC cites employment costs, pandemic as profits fell in 2022, Gas prices resume fall on worrisome inflation figures, analyst says, Low-calorie sweetener may increase risk of heart attack and stroke, study finds, Vento's Pizza, home of 'Franco's Italian Army,' to close, Heinz offers to buy boat for sailor who survived on ketchup while lost at sea, Pa. Chick-fil-A bans customers under 16 from dining in restaurant without adults, Western Pennsylvania's trusted news source. Jordan Brown was 11 years old when he was arrested in the 2009 killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn child in New Beaver. Jordan Brown was 11 years old when he was arrested in the 2009 New Beaver, Pennsylvania, killing of 26-year-old Kenzie Houk and her unborn child. It was appalling to me that they seemingly just ignored that fact throughout the case.. Houks mother Debbie Houk told 20/20, Jordan's a murderer. On May 1, 2011, hours after a meeting of the neo-Nazi group at Hall's house in Southern California, the boy took his father's revolver from the upstairs bedroom where his stepmother was sleeping. As for whether or not an 11 year old could commit this crime, I absolutely believe it is more than possible. 18, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme court overturned his conviction interview Wednesday about! This wrong, McGraw told 20/20 on pending litigation Associated Press the coroner determined Lily had died least. 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